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Abstract
Since the Reform and Opening-up in the late 1970s, the second generation of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership, led by Deng Xiaoping, worked towards a breakthrough in the development of strategic nuclear weapons and employment policy. By the middle 1980s, the Chinese military had successfully developed China’s first generation of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM), and communication satellites, which provided China with an elementary and limited second-strike capability. These technological advances were complemented by advances in Chinese nuclear strategy as well. Despite retaining the basic principle of no-first-use of nuclear weapons, the Chinese military leaders, such as Deng and General Zhang Aiping, gradually accepted the concept of nuclear deterrence. Meanwhile, they put forward China’s own concepts, including ‘da gou gun’ (‘dog-beating stick’), ‘huan shou zhi li’ (‘the power to strike back’), ‘xia hu ren’ (‘bluff’), and ‘di you wo you, di yong wo yong’ (‘we have whatever the enemy has; we use whatever the enemy uses’). All of these new strategic weapons and concepts, which came from the 1980s, have been playing a key role in ensuring that China enjoyed limited nuclear deterrent since the late 1980s. Zhang devoted most of his attention to these achievements.
Acknowledgements
Ms. Qian Qu helped a lot in the translation of Chinese references into English. She got a master degree of English literature and now is a senior staff and translator of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Qingdao Council. Timothy McDonnell is a PhD candidate from the Department of Political Science of the MIT, whose primary research interest at the moment is the history of US nuclear posture, read my original manuscript and helped to improve the English literal expression. Many thanks also go to the anonymous reviewers’ comments.
Notes
1 Lijuan Cai, ‘Lun Deng Xiaoping de He Zhanlue Sixiang,’ Makesi zhuyi yu dangdai shijie 4 (2006): 16–21; Jin Zou, ‘Deng Xiaoping de He Zhanlue Sixiang,’ Zhonggong yunnan shengwei dangxiao xuebao 7 (2006): 26–7.
2 Chong-Pin Lin, China's Nuclear Weapons Strategy (Lexington: Lexington Books, 1988); Xiangli Sun, ‘Zhongguo Hezhanlue de Xingzhi yu Tedian Fenxi,’ Shijie jingji yu zhengzhi 9 (2006): 23–8; Rong Yu and Yuan Hong, ‘Cong Fanheweishe Zhanlue dao Zuidi Weishe Zhanlue: Zhongguo Hezhanlue Yanjin Zhilu,’ Dangdai yatai 3 (2009): 120–32; Liping Xia, ‘Lun Zhongguo Hezhanlue de Yanjin yu Goucheng,’ Dangdai yatai 4 (2010): 113–27; Taylor Fravel and Evan Madeiros, ‘China's Search for Assured Retaliation: The Evolution of Chinese Nuclear Strategy and Force Structure,’ International Security 35, no. 2 (2010): 48–87.
3 Larry M. Wortzel, China’s Nuclear Forces: Operations, Training, Doctrine, Command, Control, and Campaign Planning (Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, May 2007); Jeffrey Lewis, Paper Tigers: China's Nuclear Posture (Abingdon: Routledge, 2014); Wu Riqing, ‘Certainty of Uncertainty: Nuclear Strategy with Chinese Characteristics,’ Journal of Strategic Studies 36, no. 4 (2013): 579–614.
4 Nicola Horsburgh, China and Global Nuclear Order: From Estrangement to Active Engagement (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015); Evan A. Feigenbaum, China's Techno-Warriors: National Security and Strategic Competition from the Nuclear to the Information Age (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2003). These two books mention little about Zhang.
5 Feigenbaum, China's Techno-Warriors, 13–68.
6 Ezra Feivel Vogel, Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2011), 543.
7 Zhonggong zhongyang wenxian yanjiushi and zhongguo renmin jiefangjun junshi kexueyuan, eds., Deng Xiaoping Junshi Wenji, vol. 3 [Deng Xiaoping' selected works on military affairs]. (Beijing: Zhongyang wenxian chubanshe and Junshi kexue chubanshshe), 68.
8 Zhonggong zhongyang wenxian yanjiushi, eds., Deng Xiaoping Nianpu, 1975–1997 [Deng Xiaoping's Chronicle, 1975–1997]. (Beijing: Zhongyang wenxian chubanshe, 2004), 215–6.
9 Sheng Zhang, Cong Zhanzheng Zhong Zoulai: Liangdai Junren de Duihua [Coming from the war: the dialogue between two generations of soldiers]. (Beijing: Shenghuo dusheng xinzhi sanlian chubanshe, 2013), 569–70.
10 Qiming Lu and Minruo Fan, Zhang Aiping yu Liangdan Yixing [Zhang Aiping and the atomic bomb, hydrogen bomb and artificial satellite]. (Beijing: Jiefangjun chunbanshe, 2011), 370.
11 Renqiong Song, Song Renqiong Huiyilu [The memoir of Song Renqiong]. (Beijing: Jiefangjun chunbanshe, 2011), 399, 403.
12 Lu and Fan, Zhang Aiping yu Liangdan Yixing, 365.
13 Song, Song Renqiong Huiyilu, 403.
14 Dangdai zhongguo cengshu bianweihui, eds., Dangdai Zhongguo de Guofang Keji Shiye [Modern China's cause of defence science and technology]. (Beijing: Dangdai zhongguo chubanshe, 1992), 137–8.
15 Dangdai Zhongguo de Guofang Keji Shiye, 130, 138.
16 Zhang, Cong Zhanzheng Zhong Zoulai: Liangdai Junren de Duihua, 573. In Chinese culture, ‘da gou gun’ (‘a dog-beating stick’) is a beggar's tool for self-defence against the rich peoples’ watchdogs. The beggar will not intend to proactively use the ‘da gou gun’ to attack or kill a dog, but only to scare the dog away or deter the dog from attacking himself. Zhang's metaphor creatively defined Chinese military's definition of their strategic nuclear forces.
17 Lu and Fan, Zhang Aiping yu Liangdan Yixing, 366–7.
18 Dongfang He, Shangjiang Zhang Aiping [General Zhang Aiping]. (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 2007), 664.
19 Huigu yu zhanwang bianweihui, eds., Huigu yu Zhanwang: Xinzhongguo de Guofang Keji Gongye, 1949–1989 [Memory and expectation: new China's Defence Industry of Science and Technology, 1949–1989]. (Beijing: Guofang gongye chubanshe, 1989), 395.
20 Dongfang, Shangjiang Zhang Aiping, 665–7.
21 Huigu yu Zhanwang: Xinzhongguo de Guofang Keji Gongye, 1949–1989, 395.
22 Cong Zhanzheng Zhong Zoulai: Liangdai Junren de Duihua, 578.
23 Lu and Fan, Zhang Aiping yu Liangdan Yixing, 441.
24 Zhu Guangya, interview by Dongfang, 1 April 1994, in Shangjiang Zhang Aiping, 705.
25 Li Jue, interview by Dongfang He, 30 March 1994, in Shangjiang Zhang Aiping, 705.
26 Dangdai Zhongguo de Guofang Keji Shiye, 141–2.
27 Dongfang, Shangjiang Zhang Aiping, 702–3.
28 Zhangguo hangtian gongye zonggongsi, eds., Hangtian Chunqiu, Hangtian 40 nian huiyilu wenji [The collection of 40 years' memory of China's aerospace]. (Beijing: Zhangguo hangtian gongye zonggongsi, 1996), 62–3.
29 Dangdai Zhongguo de Guofang Keji Shiye, 533.
30 Dangdai Zhongguo de Guofang Keji Shiye, 148; 539.
31 Junshi kexueyuan junshi lishi yanjiubu, eds., Zhongguo renmin jiefangjun liushinian dashiji (1927–1987) [The CPLA's Chronicle: 1927–1987]. (Beijing: Junshi kexue chubanshe, 1988), 750.
32 Tu Shoue, interview by Dongfang He, 23 June 1997, in Shangjiang Zhang Aiping, 720.
33 Deng Xiaoping Junshi Wenji, 3: 66–8.
34 Deng Xiaoping Junshi Wenji, 3: 79–80.
35 Chairman Mao's conversation with American Journalist Snow, PRCFMA 106–01256–06, in Xia, ‘Lun Zhongguo Hezhanlue de Yanjin yu Goucheng,’ Dangdai yatai 4 (2010), 118.
36 Suyu wenxuan bianjizu, Suyu Wenxuan [Suyu's anthology]. (Beijing: Junshi kexue chubanshe, 2004), 611.
37 Deng Xiaoping Junshi Wenji, 3: 91.
38 Zhonggong zhongyang wenxian yanjiushi and zhongguo renmin jiefangjun junshi kexueyuan, eds., Deng xiaoping Lun Guofang he Jundui Jianshe [Deng Xiaoping's Address on the Development of National Defence and the PLA]. (Beijing: Junshi kexue chubanshe, 1992), 60.
39 Deng Xiaoping Junshi Wenji, 3: 117.
40 Deng Xiaoping Junshi Wenji, 3: 186.
41 Zhang, Cong Zhanzheng Zhong Zoulai: Liangdai Junren de Duihua, 609.
42 Deng Xiaoping Nianpu, 1050pu.
43 Dongfang, Shangjiang Zhang Aiping, 752.
44 Dongfang, Shangjiang Zhang Aiping, 693–4.
45 Aiping Zhang, Zhang Aiping Junshi Wenxuan [Zhang Aiping's selected works on military affairs]. (Beijing: Changzheng chubanshe, 1994), 439.
46 Feigenbaum, China's Techno-Warriors, 38.
47 Zhang, Zhang Aiping Junshi Wenxuan, 440–1.
48 Dongfang, Shangjiang Zhang Aiping, 696.
49 Zhang, Zhang Aiping Junshi Wenxuan, 573–4.
50 Zhang, Zhang Aiping Junshi Wenxuan, 575–6.
51 Zhang, Zhang Aiping Junshi Wenxuan, 576.
52 see the official website of the Ministry of National Defense of People's Republic of China, http://www.mod.gov.cn/affair/2011-01/07/content_4249944_2.htm (accessed April 18, 2018).
53 see the official website of the Ministry of National Defense of People's Republic of China, http://www.mod.gov.cn/affair/2011-01/06/content_4249946_2.htm (accessed April 18, 2018).
54 Zhonghua renmin gongheguo waijiaobu and zhonggong zhongyang wenxian yanjiushi, eds., Zhou Enlai Waijiao Wenxuan [Zhou Enlai's anthology of foreign affairs]. (Beijing: Zhongyang wenxian chubanshe, 1990), 422–3.
55 Lewis and Xue, Zhongguo Yuanzidan de Zhizao, 186–7.
56 Deng Xiaoping Nianpu, 1975–1997, 404.
57 Zhang, Zhang Aiping Junshi Wenxuan, 392.
58 Zhang, Zhang Aiping Junshi Wenxuan, 440.
59 Li, ‘Di er paobing lishi shangde N ge diyi,’ Zhongguo rencai 16 (2008), 11.
60 Song, Song Renqiong Huiyilu, 406–7.
61 Dongfang, Shangjiang Zhang Aiping, 705.
62 Zhang, Zhang Aiping Junshi Wenxuan, 336.
63 Zhang, Zhang Aiping Junshi Wenxuan, 392.
64 Deng Xiaoping Nianpu, 1975–1997, 512.
65 Deng Xiaoping Nianpu, 1975–1997, 780.
66 Zhang, Zhang Aiping Junshi Wenxuan, 422.
67 Zhang, Zhang Aiping Junshi Wenxuan, 461.
68 Tianfu Wu, Guoji Hezhanlue Sichao [International nuclear strategic thought]. (Beijing: Junshi yiwen chubanshe, 2003), 207.
69 Deng Xiaoping Nianpu, 1975–1997, 1185.
70 Chong-Pin Lin, China's Nuclear Weapons Strategy, 81.
71 Tianrong Leng and Shenglun Zhang, ‘Shenjian Cichangkong—Zhanlue daodan budui zaichengzhang,’ PLA Daily, 24 October 1984, 2.
72 Deng Xiaoping Nianpu, 1975–1997, 512.
73 Zhang, Zhang Aiping Junshi Wenxuan, 392.
74 Deng Xiaoping Nianpu, 1975–1997, 947.
75 Zhang, Zhang Aiping Junshi Wenxuan, 335–6.
76 Dongfang, Shangjiang Zhang Aiping, 730.
77 Cai, ‘Lun Deng Xiaoping de He Zhanlue Sixiang,’ Makesi zhuyi yu dangdai shijie 4 (2006): 17.
78 Deng Xiaoping Nianpu, 1975–1997, 865.
79 Deng Xiaoping Nianpu, 1975–1997, 9467.
80 Dongfang, Shangjiang Zhang Aiping, 730.
81 Wu, ‘Certainty of Uncertainty: Nuclear Strategy with Chinese Characteristics,’ Journal of Strategic Studies 36, no. 4 (2013): 583–4.
82 Zhang, Cong Zhanzheng Zhong Zoulai: Liangdai Junren de Duihua, 627.